Psychoanalysis and Women

These essays by sixteen eminent psychoanalysts revise Freud's long-standing, phallocentric view of women. The authors achieve a more realistic picture of the human female as they dispel myths about dependency, biological determinism, penis envy, and masochism. Their writings go on to explore the maternal instinct, childbearing, gender identity, and sexual identity and to comment on the role of women in literature. The result is a book that throws new light on psychoanalysis for women today and on women's continuing struggle for a more fulfilling way of life.